Monday, 22 April 2013

The Art of Geocoding


At Spatial Insights we talk a lot about data, and the accuracy of data.  And the sources of data.  And of course, the accuracy of the sources of data.  The lower the integrity of the data, the higher the margin of error, and the lower the chances that any insights derived are valid and authentic.

The chosen method of data collection is a critical tool in the armoury of good data quality.  And the data collected, specifically the written description of the physical street address, which more often than not is captured by employees with lower literacy levels, forms the basis of any Spatial Analysis. 

In order to gain any geographical insight, data needs to be geocoded.  This places each record’s location on the map as per the physical street address of the record, in the form of latitude and longitude. 

Remember, garbage in, garbage out.

Mapmarker, a stand alone geocoding tool, automates the geocoding process, and an accuracy hit rate is generated, which provides confidence levels of data accuracy. 
julia@spatialinsights.co.za

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